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Day: August 29, 2006

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Christian Witness

Beheading the witnesses

On this Solemnity of the Beheading of the Baptist I think it is right to reflect on the trend toward making public expressions of faith a crime.

There is a slow moving degradation of our ability to witness to Christ without outright persecution.

I’m not calling our ability to witness a ‘right’ because it is more than that —“ it is a Divine command and an obligation. The rights handed to us by governments can change in fairly rapid order. The obligations we have toward God are eternal. Regardless of the existence of a right, we must remain faithful to the Lord.

A recent case in point is the criminal charges that were pressed against Artur Boruc, a Catholic Pole who plays goal for the Celtic soccer club. Mr. Boruc makes it a regular practice to make the Sign of the Cross as soccer matches. The Scottish prosecutor thinks that doing so is a bad idea and that the Sign of the Cross —provoked alarm and crowd trouble— and —constituted a breach of the peace—. For showing his faith Mr. Boruc received a formal police caution. Some in the football crowd showed that they are little more than racists and bigots.

The opposing team at the match was the Rangers. The match occurred on their home field. Their fan club had this to say: —Boruc should have been dealt with immediately after the February 12 incident by his club.—

That’s right, lets deal with these people. I’m thinking gladiators and lions…

An excerpt from the Evening Standard article: Footballer gets criminal record for making sign of the cross follows:

Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc has been cautioned for blessing himself in a match against arch rivals Rangers.

The Catholic Church has condemned the cautioning of a Polish footballer for gestures which allegedly included blessing himself at an Old Firm match.

Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc was cautioned after complaints were made about his behaviour at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow in front of Ranger’s fans.

Strathclyde Police investigated claims that Boruc, 26, angered a section of the home support after allegedly making the religious gesture at the start of the second half of the game on February 12.

Officers submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal.

A Crown Office spokesman said: “The procurator fiscal has issued an alternative to prosecution in this case.

“On this occasion, the actions included a combination of behaviour before a crowd in the charged atmosphere of an Old Firm match which provoked alarm and crowd trouble and as such constituted a breach of the peace.

“This quite properly resulted in the matter being reported to the procurator fiscal for consideration. Having looked at the full circumstances in this instance the public interest has been best served by the decision to resolve the matter with an alternative to prosecution.”

The alternative to prosecution being persecution…

We are being reminded in not so subtle ways that our duties toward God are going to run up against both subtle and vehement opposition. The question for each of us is whether we will persevere. Through the intercession of St. John the Baptist may we be granted the grace of humble and final perseverance.

Saints and Martyrs

Solemnity of the Beheading of the Baptist

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Beheading of St. John the Baptist

From today’s Office of Readings:

Precursor of Christ in birth and death

As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendour of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.

There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.

Through his birth, preaching and baptising, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer.

Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ. John was baptised in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptise the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.

Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ’s name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

— From a homily by St. Bede the Venerable, priest

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